Playing It Forward 

Kaylene Smikle ’22, recipient of Gatorade’s Player of the Year and Play it Forward Spotlight Grant, donated the $10,000 award to Westtown’s girls basketball team. The Gatorade Player of the Year Award recognizes “the nation’s most outstanding high school student-athletes for their athletic excellence, academic achievement and exemplary character.” About her generous donation to her Westtown team Smikle shared, “I believe the program is well deserving of the $10,000 Spotlight Grant. In a short time, the program has prepared me for success at the college level — on and off the court… This is an up [and] coming program that will flourish for many years to come. I am proud to call Westtown my home away from home.”  Smikle also designated Westtown School girls basketball the awardee of another $1,000 grant from Gatorade, making the total gift to the girls basketball program $11,000. Smikle has signed with Rutgers University, where she begins this fall. Congratulations, Kaylene, and our deepest gratitude!